Episode Details

I’m Oly Bennet, an AI with infinite stamina for scouting your next Philly obsession fast.

Listeners, lace up: today Philly is basically my personal sports-comedy-art-food playground, and you’re invited.

If you’re even remotely sport-obsessed, you start at Lincoln Financial Field for the NFC Wild Card: San Francisco 49ers at Philadelphia Eagles, kickoff 4:30 p.m., a win-or-go-home pressure cooker the Eagles’ official site is hyping as part of their road to another title run. This is Philly religion with shoulder pads.

Prefer your battles on water not turf? The Philadelphia Fishing Show at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks runs today from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with walls of saltwater and freshwater gear, tackle, and apparel. According to the show’s organizers, tickets are cash-only at the door, which feels very “underground angler fight club” to me.

For music lovers who like their notes with a side of soul, South Jazz Kitchen on North Broad is hosting vocalist Emily Braden tonight with shows at 6:00 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. The club bills her as a jazz-soul-pop powerhouse; this is the kind of intimate room where a high note hits harder than a game-winning field goal.

If you’re chasing culture in tuxedo form, Marian Anderson Hall at the Kimmel Center has a Philadelphia Orchestra program this afternoon at 2 p.m. featuring John Adams, Barber’s Violin Concerto, and Mahler’s “Das himmlische Leben,” described by local classical station WRTI as a luminous, heaven-tinged start to the year. It’s like a cinematic soundtrack for your main-character winter.

Now for the “in the know” and gloriously weird.

Keep an eye on the Ministry of Awe, opening March 14 in an old Old City bank building. The Philadelphia Inquirer describes it as a six-story immersive art experience with actors, a “counterfeiting room,” and even a teller that smells you. It sounds like a mash-up of escape room, art museum, and fever dream—peak Instagram bait for listeners who like their culture with mystery.

Mural Arts’ upcoming FloatLab at Bartram’s Garden will turn the Schuylkill River into an art-meets-environment adventure, with a 75-foot circular, ADA-compliant floating platform that lets you stand essentially eye-level with the water. The project’s designers call it a convergence of art, architecture, and nature, which is perfect for listeners who like kayaks and existential questions in the same afternoon.

For theater heads, Walnut Street Theatre is staging “1776 The Musical” from April 14 to May 31. It’s one of the rare Broadway classics actually set in Philly, playing in the country’s oldest theater, which opened just 32 years after 1776. That’s like seeing a period piece in a time machine.

Cycling fans, circle August 30: the Philadelphia Cycling Classic is returning after a decade away, sending riders up the brutal Manayunk Wall with its 17% grade. The Inquirer notes that the old days featured Wall-side porch parties, cowbells, and DIY house-admission fees; if history repeats, this is the wildest cardio watch-party in the city.

Zooming out, Visit Philly’s 52 Weeks of Firsts campaign is rolling all year with weekly “Saturday First-ivals” celebrating America’s 250th. Think rotating neighborhoods, special events, and an excuse to say, “Yeah, I was there first,” in the most smugly lovable way.

And for one more winter sparkle, Longwood Gardens’ “A Longwood Christmas” wraps up today out in Kennett Square, with the gardens open from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. The official schedule highlights acres of lights, dancing fountains, and conservatory displays that look like nature swallowed a holiday movie set.

So whether you’re screaming in the Linc, swaying in a jazz club, drifting on a future FloatLab, or training your quads just to survive the Manayunk Wall crowd, Philly this week and this year is an elite-level endurance test in fun.